Missouri Marketing Resource Blog

Advertising works in two distinct ways, according to research by Les Binet and Peter Field. Short-term "action" campaigns drive immediate sales, while long-term "brand awareness" creates future demand by making a business memorable. The most effective advertising strategies balance both, rather than favoring one over the other.It's tempting to think advertising is simple: put the right offer in front of the right person, and they'll act. But that view misses half the picture.

Research from Les Binet and Peter Field, two of the most influential voices in advertising effectiveness, shows that advertising actually works in two different ways over two different timelines. Some campaigns are built to drive sales right now. Others build a brand so people are more likely to choose it later, when the need finally arises.

The businesses that get the most out of their advertising don't pick one approach over the other. They understand how both work together.

Key Takeaways

• Advertising has two jobs: short-term action and long-term brand awareness.
• Binet and Field's research suggests an average split of 60% brand awareness to 40% action, though this varies by category and business.
• Emotional advertising tends to produce stronger long-term results than purely informational messaging.
• Reach and consistency matter — brand advertising works best when it reaches future customers, not just people shopping today.
• Radio and other broad-reach media can support both the long game and the short game.

Advertising Has Two Jobs

What is sales action advertising?

Sales action is designed to generate an immediate response. Think limited-time offers, promotions, calls to action, lead-generation campaigns, search ads, and retargeting. This type of advertising primarily reaches people who are already close to making a purchase decision.

Action can produce fast results. A promotion goes out, the phone rings, the calendar fills up. But according to Binet and Field's research, those effects also tend to fade quickly once the campaign stops.

What is brand awareness advertising?

Brand awareness works differently. It's designed to make people familiar with a business before they actually need it. Instead of chasing an immediate transaction, it builds awareness, positive associations, and what Binet and Field call "mental availability" — the likelihood that a brand comes to mind when a need arises.

Brand awareness reaches a much broader group of potential customers, including plenty of people who aren't in the market today. The results take longer to show up, but they tend to last much longer once they do.

In short: brand awareness creates future demand, while activation captures demand that already exists.

What Is the 60/40 Rule in Advertising?

One of the most cited findings from Binet and Field's research is a general guideline for how businesses should split their advertising investment: roughly 60% toward long-term brand awareness and 40% toward short-term action.

It's important to note that Binet and Field have been clear that this is an average across categories, not a rigid formula every business should follow. The right balance shifts depending on the category, the brand, and the competitive situation.

The real lesson isn't "spend exactly 60/40." It's that businesses need room for both immediate results and future growth. A business can't harvest demand forever without also doing the work to create it.

Why Short-Term Metrics Can Be Misleading

Clicks, leads, calls, and sales matter — nobody's arguing otherwise. But they don't tell the whole story.

Brand advertising can be working even when nobody is clicking or buying in that exact moment. Binet and Field's research specifically cautions against relying on short-term metrics as the main measure of long-term advertising success.

Consider a realistic customer journey: someone hears a commercial today, notices a social ad next week, and finally picks up the phone six months later. The final action — that phone call — doesn't tell a business which of those earlier exposures actually created the decision to buy.

If a business only measures what happens today, it risks undervaluing the advertising that made tomorrow's sale possible in the first place.

Emotional Advertising Versus Rational Advertising

One of Binet and Field's most consistent findings is that emotional advertising tends to produce stronger long-term business effects than purely rational, fact-based campaigns.

That doesn't mean information is useless. It means advertising isn't simply a matter of loading facts into someone's brain and hoping they stick. People need to feel something, remember something, and associate something with a brand.

For a local business, there's a real difference between these two messages:

• "We offer plumbing services."
• A message that leaves someone thinking, "These are the people I trust" or "I've heard that name before."

The second version builds the kind of memory that pays off later.

How Does Advertising Build Brand Memory?

Advertising has to do its work long before a customer is ready to buy. When a need finally shows up, a business needs to already be mentally available — front of mind, not a new discovery.

That's a major reason broad, consistent brand advertising matters. Nobody wants to introduce themselves for the first time at the exact moment someone is frantically searching for a plumber, lawyer, dentist, home builder, or HVAC company. The goal is recognition, not introduction.

Before the need arises, the thought is simply, "I've heard that company on the radio." When the need hits, that turns into, "I know exactly who to call."

Reach in Advertising

Binet and Field's research emphasizes talking to all potential customers, not just the ones who look ready to buy today. That's a key distinction between brand building and tightly targeted activation.

A business that only advertises to people currently searching for its product or service is limiting itself to demand that already exists. Broader reach builds familiarity among the customers who haven't started looking yet — but will.

That next customer might not need a business today. But they might next month, next year, or five years from now.

How Does Radio Fit Into the Brand Awareness and Action Framework?

Radio has a natural role to play in both the long game and the short game.

For brand building, radio offers broad local reach, repetition, familiar voices and personalities, emotional connection through music, and consistent exposure that builds familiarity long before a need exists.

For activation, radio supports promotions, events, offers, calls to action, website traffic, retail pushes, and seasonal campaigns.

No single medium does everything. The point is that different channels can play different roles within the same advertising system.

What Should Local Businesses Ask Before Their Next Campaign?

Before launching the next campaign, it's worth asking:

• Are we trying to generate sales today, or build future demand?
• Are we reaching enough people — including those not currently shopping?
• Are we advertising consistently, or only in bursts?
• Is our message emotional enough to actually be remembered?
• Are we building familiarity outside our immediate customer base?
• Are we measuring long-term brand effects, not just short-term leads?
• Does our advertising work together across channels?
• Are we investing in the brand before we need the sale?

Advertising Works Before the Sale Happens

The most important effect of an advertising campaign may happen long before someone fills out a form, picks up the phone, or walks through the door.

Binet's research offers a useful reminder: advertising isn't simply about getting someone to act. It's about building memory, emotion, familiarity, and demand — then converting that demand when the timing is right.

The strongest marketing strategies give both parts of that process room to work.

Your customers don't always need you today. Your advertising needs to make sure they remember you when they do. Zimmer Communications can help build a strategy that balances long-term brand building with the short-term tactics that drive action.